|
|
||
Potomac River Fisheries Commission secretary says he will seek moratorium on oyster harvests in Potomac Date published: 8/8/2009
BY FRANK DELANO Once the sustenance of a region, oysters have virtually vanished from the Potomac River. Now regulators will soon consider a ban on harvesting the few oysters that remain on the river's bottom. Kirby A. Carpenter, executive secretary of the bistate Potomac River Fisheries Commission, told a meeting of oystermen Thursday night in Colonial Beach that he will recommend a moratorium on taking oysters from the river when the commissioners meet next month. His recommendation "The environmental impact statement said we've got to work with the native oyster," said Carpenter. "To do that, we've got to develop disease-resistant native oysters. "Every oyster you remove from the river is one that has survived and may hold a gene that is resistant to the disease. We've got to leave as many native oysters in the river as possible to develop that resistance. "We believe every live oyster is more valuable left where it is than on a shucking table," he said. The proposed moratorium would be the second in recent history. The river was closed to oystering for two seasons after the floods of tropical storm Agnes in 1972 killed an estimated 70 percent of the river's oysters. Oyster populations recovered slightly after Agnes before being attacked by the diseases Dermo and MSX in the early 1990s. "Since then, it has been all downhill. It's a very sad picture," said Carpenter. But members of the commission's Oyster-Clam Advisory Committee unanimously rejected the idea of an oyster moratorium. "Why are you so concerned with leaving them out there? Why not let somebody put them in their pocket?" asked James Ficklin of Montross. No moratorium is needed because the river "has pretty much closed itself," said Robert T. Brown of the St. Mary's County, Md., Watermen's Association.
the Rivers are much cleaner that they used to be - from
sewage and the like.
the problems they have now have to do with impervious
surfaces and the stuff that is on those surfaces getting
washed into the rivers. Motor oil, antifreeze, etc.
the fish warnings are due to mercury contamination which
comes from burning coal for electricity - not from sewage
treatment plants.
the "overfishing" is relative to what the oysters can do on
their own to reproduce - as well as consumption.
it is now filthy and laden with feces, e-coli and all sorts of nsties. The government recomends we eat no more than 1 fish caught in the Potomac.....a month.
It's time that Washington DC find a nother place to dump their effluent and other waste and the Corps of Engineers stop suggesting that effluent is good for the environment. Overfishing, overclamming and oystering kills that golden goose and then they complain. To introduce a non-native oyster is an insane idea.
this is a very similar sentiment to that expressed by the Cod
Fishermen off of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland when that
fishery collapsed.
It's an understandable sentiment from the point of view of
folks who make their living do that - but it's not
understandable from a longer term point of view.
It's almost like saying.. "let us continue to earn our living -
until we no longer can" ... which really completely ignores
the issue of whether or not we ultimately want a viable
oyster fishery or not..longer term
|
|
||||||||||||||||
